Desmoceratoidea, formerly Desmocerataceae, is a superfamily of

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

ammonites, generally with round or oval-whorled shells that are mostly smooth or weakly ribbed and rarely tuberculate, but commonly with constrictions.Desmoceratoidea
a
Paleobiology database
retrieved on July 8, 2012. with and (1996), ''Mollusca 4 Revised , Cretaceous Ammonoidea'', vol. 4, in ''Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology'', Part L (Roger L. Kaesler et el. eds.), Boulder, Colorado: The Geological Society of America & Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 67-111. Regarded as monophyletic, the Desmocerataceae are derived from the

Phylloceratidae Phylloceratidae is the predominant family of the Phylloceratina with some 15 or more genera found in rocks ranging from the Lower Jurassic to the Upper Cretaceous. Members of the Phylloceratidae are characterized by smooth, involute shells with v ...

, splitting off in the Early Cretaceous (

Valanginian In the geologic timescale, the Valanginian is an age or stage of the Early or Lower Cretaceous. It spans between 139.8 ± 3.0 Ma and 132.9 ± 2.0 Ma (million years ago). The Valanginian Stage succeeds the Berriasian Stage of the Lower Cretace ...

) and persisting to the end of the

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval ...

References

Ammonitina Ammonitida superfamilies Valanginian first appearances Maastrichtian extinctions {{Ammonitina-stub